Pumpkin Alfredo Pasta

It's pumpkin season, which means pumpkin everything, coffee, muffins, donuts, breads, m&ms and now this.....Pumpkin Alfredo! I picked up this months Food Network Magazine and flipped through quickly, this is when I came across this image,

along with "50 things to make with canned pumpkin". I quickly found No.5, Pasta with Pumpkin Alfredo. This was so simple I had to try it tonight. A quick trip to the store to grab a can of pumpkin (okay, a few cans, since I am sure I will try a few others) and I headed home to whip this up.

Ingredients
1 box veggie pasta, cooked
10 sage leaves
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups light cream
1 cup canned pumpkin
Pinch of nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste
Grated Parmesan cheese

Like I said, this is super simple. First saute the sage leaves in the butter. Whisk in the cream, pumpkin and nutmeg. Simmer for 5 minutes and toss with pasta. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve topped with grated Parmesan and you can always add a couple sage leaves to make it pretty! That's it, time to enjoy! 

 Stay tuned, I have 49 other pumpkin recipes to go through and possibly try!

American Chop Suey

American Chop Suey is made differently in almost every home. I find it to be a recipe that you grew up with that gets passed down with small tweaks.  To be honest it was never one of my favorite meals since I don't eat hamburg so I always would take the noodles plain with some sauce before mixing it together.  On the other hand it is one of my husbands FAVORITE meals and his mothers version is much different than my mothers version so I have learned to make her version over the past year.  The one change that I made is that I add extra hamburg and Italian sausage since that is Scott's favorite part.

I start be removing the sausage from their casings (I use about 3 or 4) and adding them to about 1lb of hamburg in a large skillet.  I combine them and cook until no longer pink.  I then add a tablespoon or so of Basil, Italian Seasoning and garlic powder with salt and pepper to taste.  Once mixed together I add 1/2 of a large sweet onion, 1/2 a green pepper (I used orange this time since that is what I had) and 1/2 a red pepper.  I cover the pan and simmer until the veggies are tender. 

Once they are tender I add in a box of pre-cooked elbows or shells (- the bowl i took out for myself!) and a jar of vidalia onion spaghetti sauce and mix together.  I let this simmer for about 10 minutes and then it is ready to ENJOY!

Parmasan Pasta Salad

So last night I was starving when I got home from work and wasn't really in the mood for any meat!  My husband cooked himself some delish chicken but while we waited I through together a quick on the spot pasta salad with what we had in the house.  I love using Barilla Veggie Pasta.  You get a full serving of veggies in each serving without having to add in the extra's.

Once this was done cooking I drained the pasta and tossed it with some EVOO.  I added a few shakes of grated parmesan cheese, that melted right into the warm pasta, a little parsley and a little basil.  I finished it up with 1 can of sliced black olives and sea salt.  For throwing something together at the last minuted it was absolutely delish and my husband agreed! Had to write about this one to make sure I never forget how to make it!